


not the same kid I used to be

by CreatePeaceFromChaos



Series: Timbitat's Quarantine Bingo [23]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Canon Divergence - Post-Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Everybody Lives, Except Voldemort, F/M, Family Fluff, Fix-It, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:49:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25705399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CreatePeaceFromChaos/pseuds/CreatePeaceFromChaos
Summary: Three years after Voldemort’s defeat in the graveyard at Little Hangleton, Harry wakes from a nightmare with a scream on his lips and visions of death dancing in his mind. Luckily, he has good things in his life to remind him of the reality outside his nightmares.
Relationships: Cedric Diggory/Harry Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin/Bill Weasley/Kingsley Shacklebolt/Nymphadora Tonks
Series: Timbitat's Quarantine Bingo [23]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1830388
Comments: 4
Kudos: 67





	not the same kid I used to be

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CloudSpeck](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloudSpeck/gifts).



> For the square "fix-it fic" for my quarantine bingo.  
> For CloudSpeck, for requesting fluffy family stuff with Harry, Sirius, Remus, and Tonks.
> 
> Title from "This Time" by Mandy Harvey (who I absolutely love and _definitely_ recommend listening to)

He came awake with an aborted scream, only managing to clamp his mouth shut – biting down hard on his bottom lip – at the last moment, strangling the agonised shout in his throat. Blood seeped onto his tongue, and he shuddered and wrapped his arms around himself. The taste did little to help free him from the lingering dregs of the nightmare – the warped memory – that had woken him.

Green eyes darted about the room as his chest rose and fell in great shuddering gulps, but as the familiar room registered in his brain, his breathing slowed and his racing heart calmed.

He was safe. He was at home, in the house he shared with Sirius and Remus and Tonks and the rest of their unorthodox family. Cedric would be coming to visit in the morning, to spend the day before his birthday with him, and Voldemort was long dead and gone.

He was safe.

Harry reached for his wand and healed his bitten lip with a softly murmured spell, and then slipped it into its holster and attached it to his arm as he slid out of bed. The floor was cool but not cold beneath his feet, and the air was mild. Summer was coming to an end, but the nights were still warm enough that he didn’t need to add a robe over his pyjamas. He wouldn’t be getting back to sleep now, not after that nightmare-memory – a warped version of what had actually happened that night in the graveyard, and a disjointed collection of depressing images that Harry didn’t want to think on – and headed out of his room. He drifted down the stairs, poking his head into Teddy’s nursery on his way past.

His godson – and hadn’t _that_ been a surprise when Tonks, Remus, and Bill (and Sirius and Kingsley, once they’d woken up from their faint at having been in the room while Tonks gave birth) had all agreed that he should have that position in Teddy’s life – was stirring, not quite awake but not truly asleep any longer. Harry slipped into the nursery and reached into Teddy’s crib to stroke his soft hair, smile curling his lips as his godson yawned and blinked golden eyes sleepily up at him. Then Teddy cooed and gave a gummy smile, tiny hands reaching for Harry, and he immediately gave in to the unspoken demand. He lifted Teddy from his crib into his arms, and Teddy immediately rested his head on Harry’s shoulder, little hands gripping his shirt.

Harry’s heart felt like it would burst, it was so full of love and adoration for the infant in his arms. He pressed a kiss to Teddy’s downy head and just held him for a long moment, relaxing in the contentment that radiated from the warm, happy baby.

Then Teddy began to fuss; just little grizzles at first, but Harry knew that if left to his discomfort, he would soon be screaming the house down. He hefted the infant a little higher and kissed his head again.

“Let’s get you sorted before you wake your parents, hey?” Harry murmured, and Teddy’s grizzling quietened as Harry took him over to the changing table.

Harry had become a deft hand at changing and feeding his godson over the past few months, and he couldn’t wait until he had graduated Hogwarts and finished his further studies so he could have children of his own. Despite the expectations of those outside his family, he wasn’t going to be an Auror. He was going to be a Healer, a paediatrician; once his training was complete, he and Cedric were going to take Luna up on her offer of surrogacy.

“There we go, Teddy-bear, all clean.” He placed a light kiss on his godson’s belly, smiling at the giggles and baby-babble that burbled up out of his godson’s mouth. He picked up the infant again and settled him against one shoulder, humming softly – he couldn’t sing, but he could hum a tune at least – as he headed for the kitchen.

“Dobby,” he called softly as he entered the room, and the loyal little house elf appeared in a muted _‘pop!’_

“Winky be preparing Little Wolfie’s bottle,” Dobby informed Harry, and his huge eyes were shiny with love as he looked at the infant. Teddy was a welcome addition to the household, and everyone loved him. The house elves were no exception. “It be too early for Harry Potter Sir to be awake,” the elf added, wiggling a finger scoldingly at Harry. He grinned a little, dropping one hand to pat Dobby’s thin shoulder.

“Just a small nightmare, Dobby. I’ll try to nap before Cedric arrives.”

“Yous better,” Dobby said, eyeing him doubtfully, and Harry chuckled quietly – not wanting to startle Teddy, who was starting to grumble again – at his friend’s mother-hen tendencies.

Winky appeared with the same muted popping noise that had accompanied Dobby’s arrival, one of Teddy’s bottles in hand. She passed it over to Harry with a beaming smile.

“Thank you, Winky,” he said, and her smile brightened even further before she vanished again. She was a quiet one, now she had a home and family to care for, though she had a spine of steel when it came to their protection. Harry had been told he’d been taking quite a risk when he took her and Dobby into his family magic, but he hadn’t regretted it for a second. They were family, just as much as his godfather and his godfather’s lovers.

Harry moved to the sitting room – a small fire, just enough for a Floo, crackling in the large fireplace – and settled into his favourite plush armchair, adjusting his hold on Teddy so he could feed his godson.

It was a moment of contentment and warmth such as those he’d dreamed of since he was a lonely little child in a boot cupboard (but never expected to get), and he couldn’t be happier with how his life had turned out.

One by one, the other residents of the house woke and wandered through, each of them sporting the same soft, fond smile when they saw Harry dozing in his armchair with Teddy sleeping on his chest. The household moved quietly around their two youngest members, doing their best not to wake them though Remus did come close when he trailed a hand over Teddy’s back and Harry’s cheek. Winky had appeared to give the werewolf a scolding look when Harry stirred, and he had backed off with hands raised in supplication at her glare.

They all knew that Harry still had nightmares from time to time, and for him to have been the first up – and in time to get Teddy’s first change and feed – meant that he must have had one overnight. They would leave him to his nap, until one of the elves woke him for breakfast or Teddy woke for another change or feed.

Sirius had come back into the sitting room and was leafing through a copy of The Quibbler, sprawled across the settee, when Harry roused from his doze.

“Morning, Prongslet,” Sirius murmured, and Harry blinked sleepy eyes his way before a smile curled his lips.

“Morning, Padfoot.” He glanced down at Teddy and smiled. “He hasn’t woken back up yet?”

“Not yet,” Sirius shook his head, “Though Winky told off Remus when he almost woke you both earlier.” Harry laughed, and Teddy stirred. The laughter quietened immediately, and after a moment of shuffling about, the infant dozed back off.

“That sounds about right. What time is it?” Harry yawned as he spoke. Sirius chuckled.

“Just after eight-thirty. Nightmare again?”

“Hm, a warped memory more like it.” Harry’s stomach growled, and Dobby appeared with a tray of various breakfast foods. Most of it was lighter than the usual fare, for even if Harry was hungry, he didn’t eat as much after nightmares. “Thank you, Dobby.”

Sirius moved over and carefully lifted Teddy from his godson’s chest, cuddling the infant as Harry sat up properly and stretched. Teddy grumbled a little in his sleep but didn’t otherwise react, and Sirius slowly circled the room, murmuring to his son, as Harry ate.

Teddy had apparently decided that today was a Harry Day, because once he woke in Kingsley’s arms – just as Harry came back into the room after washing and dressing – he kicked up a huge fuss if anyone else held him. Tonks just laughed and passed him over to Harry with ease, while Bill amusedly consoled a pouting Kingsley. Remus and Sirius didn’t mind at all, perfectly happy to just be in the same room and occasionally touch the two they considered their sons.

Harry was happy to have Teddy all day – his only plans were to spend a quiet day in with Cedric, and having Teddy there wouldn’t make much of a difference. Cedric loved the infant almost as much as Harry did, and he never got frustrated with how much attention Harry tended to focus on Teddy.

There were many reasons Harry loved him, and his reactions to Teddy just added to the list.

Just before ten-thirty the Floo flared green, and Harry beamed brightly as his fiancé stepped out of the flames. Cedric shook off the soot and immediately approached Harry, ducking down to kiss him in greeting. Harry tilted his head up to accept the kiss, and was still smiling when it ended. Teddy babbled something and reached for Cedric, and Cedric laughed at Kingsley’s offended (but quiet) cry as he took Teddy from Harry’s arms. The baby boy settled easily in Cedric’s hold and patted his face with one small hand, garbled but serious-sounding noises coming from his mouth, and Cedric grinned as he took a seat beside Harry on the settee. Tonks rolled her eyes at Harry behind Kingsley’s back as the big man complained to Remus about Teddy not loving him anymore – making Harry snicker and turn to hide it in Cedric’s shoulder – before dragging Kingsley from the room.

“Have fun, lovebirds!” she called back over her shoulder.

“But not too much fun,” Sirius added, dropping a kiss to the top of Harry’s head and ruffling Cedric’s previously immaculate hair before following. “Good to see you, Cedric, as always.”

“Likewise,” Cedric replied easily, and exchanged easy greetings with Remus and Bill before the last of Harry’s family also left. He then turned to Harry and kissed him again, deeper this time but just as loving as the first. “Good morning, my love.”

“Good morning,” Harry murmured back, and settled in against Cedric’s side.

The final stress from his nightmares finally dissipated at seeing his fiancé safe and whole and alive, and Harry smiled and shut his eyes.

All was right in the world.


End file.
